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As it has been uncovered that Sir Alex Ferguson is unlikely to be eligible for Sports Personality Of The Year (due to there being a rule in place stating that coaches/managers have to be currently in-play) it surely means that Andy Murray is now a very likely prospect to win it at the end of the year.

As it has been uncovered that Sir Alex Ferguson is unlikely to be eligible for Sports Personality Of The Year (due to there being a rule in place stating that coaches/managers have to be currently in-play) it surely means that Andy Murray is now a very likely prospect to win it at the end of the year.

As it has been uncovered that Sir Alex Ferguson is unlikely to be eligible for Sports Personality Of The Year (due to there being a rule in place stating that coaches/managers have to be currently in-play) it surely means that Andy Murray is now a very likely prospect to win it at the end of the year.

Justin Rose just made a very strong claim. I think Andy's going to have to win one of the biggies to get the SPOTY

Justin Rose just made a very strong claim. I think Andy's going to have to win one of the biggies to get the SPOTY

Actually, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that Andy's historic Olympic gold and silver plus the mega-historic USO was only good enough for 3rd last year ! Fair play to Wiggins though - a great year for him too.

By Oliver Brown, Queen’s Club12:01AM BST 17 Jun 2013Suddenly we could herald a seminal moment in the humanising of Andy Murray.

As he conveyed with quavering emotion the cancer ordeal of Ross Hutchins, all the while absorbing the afterglow of his third Queen’s Club triumph, he transformed in front of our eyes from the surly tartan misanthrope to the model of compassionate benevolence, even blowing a kiss to his confrere in the crowd.

Hutchins responded in kind, embracing Murray with a palpable warmth as the Scot walked off Centre Court, ready to return for a charity hit-and-giggle against coach Ivan Lendl on his close friend’s behalf.He even implored the 7,000-strong crowd to stay for the gentle japes that ensued in the soft summer haze. Tellingly, almost all of them did.

Murray has been struggling to beguile a dubious British public for the best part of a decade but at last, three Sundays before what could bring his maiden Wimbledon coronation, a connection between actor and audience was forged.

Call it the Sue Barker effect. The ever-empathetic matron of our screens had also elicited Murray's tears after his vanquishing by Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final, when he took her microphone to say, voice rising several octaves on the last syllable: “Right, I’m going to try this, but it’s not going to be easy.”

Something about the sight of Barker’s blonde tresses bouncing onto court is guaranteed to reduce him to helpless soppiness.

By dusk, it felt almost like Murray tribute day in West Kensington. The ladies purred indulgently over his touching victory speech, following this 2½-hour dismantling of Marin Cilic, while mother Judy marked the all-star charity match by trilling on Twitter about the physique of Tomas Berdych.

Even the eclectic assortment of star guests, from Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, to preening comedian Michael McIntyre, behaved with puppyish enthusiasm in the company of the triple Queen’s champion.

It helped that Murray, fresh from his dispatch of Cilic, faced off in the celebrity exhibition match with Tim Henman, still adored in this postcode for his three final appearances and, of course, his impeccable Oxfordshire breeding.

Murray has fought his entire career to claim even a fraction of the upper middle-class hysteria once accorded to Henman but, as the fans cheered an announcement last night that he would be handing his tournament winnings to the Royal Marsden hospital, that acclaim seemed to be his due.

The match itself offered a more nuanced picture. As befitted a Wimbledon dress rehearsal, this was our chance to see Murray in all his disparate guises, from grass court artist to raging hypochondriac.

Ultimately, his subduing of Cilic was straightforward enough as the superlative quality of his first serve and backhand drives began to tell. But the narrative, peppered with strange drama, was quintessential Murray.

Gasps resounded the arena when, with a yelp of anguish late in the first set, he fell to the ground in the fetal position. Had he suffered a groin injury? Had his back, only just nursed back to health, given way? Was his Wimbledon over before it even began? As it transpired, none of the above. With a few winces and a little ginger stretching he was at full-bore again, forcing Cilic from one side of the court from the other.

There was the odd tantrum, but his former detractors were content to forgive a Grand Slam champion such lapses. Match point duly sealed, he turned to the galleries with a luminous smile. He once identified his favourite stage as the US Open, prizing the raucousness of Arthur Ashe Stadium above the garden party refinement of SW19, but Murray looked curiously at ease here among the gin-and-Jag set.

His heartfelt words for Hutchins, whom he described as “so brave”, cemented the bond. Murray said famously of Federer in Australia in 2010: “I can cry like Roger, it’s a pity I can’t play like him, too.”

Now that he can do both, the affection flowing from his home support towards the world No.2 is in full spate.

At 25, Murray can still be a character of many brittle edges but on this day, perhaps, Britain finally learnt to love his more tender, lachrymose side.

Andy sounds so positive in his column - really good to read. Feels like the fun of playing the charity match on top of winning Queens has put him in a really good place, even if tired.I read somewhere that Chris Kermode had asked him how he'd feel playing the charity match if he lost the final and andy had said that would be fine it was an important thing to do or words to that effect . I'd wondered that too - it wouldn't have been easy to go out immediately after a loss in a final to be all jokey in front of a crowd. (Actually to be fair I guess the same question could have been asked of Birdy though he was very much the straight man to the others and must have felt a bit left out!)

Please could tell me what item Andy says he wants to meet Nadal in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon? I am very surprised by this statement quoted on a French forum.

Andy talking about the possibility of meeting Nadal in the quarters said he would happily take being in that position right now (ie reaching the QFs). That's not a comment on wanting to play Nadal but rather that he would be happy being deep at Wimbledon again, and also stated that if he's going to win he's going to have to defeat the top players anyway.

"I'd sign up to be in the quarter-finals against Rafa tomorrow if someone offered me that. You could say if I get through that match then the semi-final might not be as tough, but if you want to win the biggest tournaments you have to beat the best players in the world. It doesn't really matter where they are in the draw."

Of course that translates to the media as "Andy Murray is not scared to play Rafa Nadal, he is so confident he wants to show Rafa who is the best on grass" etc etc

Farcical press again taking an innocuous comment and turning into some kind of dramatic statement, all Andy is saying is that if he finds himself in the quarters having to face Nadal he would take it, as it means he has progressed to the 1/4 finals at Wimbledon, and if he has to face Rafa who is seeded 5th then so be it.

I'm not so sure. I read that comment and my first reaction was " really?" I think it was meant as it was said. Rafa is the only person I really fear in the entire draw for Andy (given his record against him). Facing him in the 1/4's just sounds like a bad, bad idea.

I'm not sure that Murray would measure success as a quarter final so I can only deduce that he does want to put himself up against Rafa.

^^ But whatever he thinks privately, Andy is hardly going to say that he'd be scared to meet Nadal in the quarters. The media will twist his words, whatever he says.I agree with laundry and gnome's interpretation above. I don't think he fears the challenge.

People shouldn't get too hung up on language, especially off-the-cuff comments from sportspersons who are not always the best with words. I take Andy's statement to mean no more than " I am not overly concerned if I am drawn to play Nadal in the Quarter Finals."